Home wins and away losses for SA franchises in URC matches

The Lions and Sharks continued their unblemished start to the United Rugby Championship (URC) season with their second straight wins, while the Stormers and Bulls slipped to tight defeats on the road over the weekend.

The Lions and Sharks swapped opponents from last week, as Ospreys travelled up to the highveld and were blown away 35-19 after a second-half blitz on Saturday, while Leinster moved down to the coast, and again put up a fight, but were confidently beaten 26-20, needing a late try to sneak a bonus point.

Lions beat Ospreys

In the match at Ellis Park, the Lions looked in charge thanks to a powerful platform laid by their forwards, but after holding a 10-0 lead with eight minutes to go in the first half, Ospreys struck with two late tries to take a 12-10 lead into the break.

But that lit a fire in the Lions, who came flying out the blocks in the second half, running in five tries in a 23-minute spell to take a 35-12 lead after 66 minutes, with Ospreys then scoring a consolation try after the fulltime hooter.

“It was a very sloppy first half. That is definitely something we will need to improve going forward, especially next weekend (against the Bulls at Loftus),” said Lions captain Francke Horn after the match.

“But then credit to the forwards in the second half. Lots of good scrums, lots of good mauls with the backs joining. It was a tough grind win, but we got our five points. It wasn’t perfect, but we got the points on the board.”

Sharks defeat Leinster

In Durban, it was a hard fought first half between the Sharks and Leinster, and the hosts needed a try on the halftime hooter from wing Litelihle Bester to sneak them into a 14-7 lead.

A try to Leinster early in the second half then cut the deficit to two points, and they then snuck into a 15-14 lead in the 65th minute thanks to a Sam Prendergast penalty. But the Sharks’ Bok stars then stood up, as captain Andre Esterhuizen and wing Edwill van der Merwe scored to secure the win.

“I am very happy with the performance, especially from the forwards. They dug deep today, and they gave us a lot of front foot ball and quite a few penalties,” Esterhuizen said.

“So I’m very happy with that. I am also very happy that we managed to get that late bonus point try.”

Losses for Stormers and Bulls

On Friday night in Scotland, the Stormers were made to pay for a number of errors in blustery, difficult conditions, with their misfiring lineout proving particularly costly as they went down to Edinburgh 17-13.

A massive battle in the first half saw the hosts taking a tight 3-0 lead into the break, before a seesaw second half saw each side hitting the front a couple of times, with the Stormers going ahead 13-10 in the 67th minute, only for Edinburgh to go over for the winning converted try in the 72nd.

On Saturday night in Limerick, the Bulls were bested 26-22 by Munster in an entertaining back and forth game that saw the teams reach halftime locked level at 14-all.

Munster went ahead twice with the Bulls levelling the score twice, before the visitors took the lead (17-14) for the only time thanks to a 43rd minute penalty from flyhalf Curwin Bosch.

Two Munster tries then pushed them into a 26-17 lead, before a 73rd minute score to loose forward Jeandre Rudolph brought the Bulls back into striking distance, but the hosts saw out the win.